Taco Bell to release new Cantina menu

Karen Miner is the Associate Editor for SheKnows Food. She is a freelance writer, recipe developer and is also the cook, author and photographer behind the food blog, Tasty Trials, a collection of original recipes and stories. She and he...

Fresh fast food

Taco Bell is synonymous with words like value, supreme and grande but not necessarily upscale cuisine or fine dining. With their new menu, they're aiming to change that perception.

On July 5, Taco Bell will unveil their new Cantina menu in hopes of competing with the likes of Chipotle Mexican Grill and expanding their customer base. So as not to lose their existing customer base, who clearly love their classic items like burrito supremes and mexi-melts, the current menu will go unchanged.

Fast but fresh

Miami chef Lorena Garcia has been collaborating with Taco Bell since 2010 to create the Cantina menu. Ingredients like fresh grilled corn, whole black beans, cilantro rice and Hass avocado guacamole will be showcased in Taco Bell's new menu, all at value prices of less than $5 per item. Eating a healthier burrito bowl might make you feel better about those three gorditas you gobbled down.

Big change

For a fast food chain that recently sold more than 100 million Doritos Locos Tacos in roughly 10 weeks, this new menu may seem like an unnecessary move. Why fix something that isn't broken? But clearly there is a need to compete with other fast-food Mexican-style restaurants that offer fresher ingredients. And although Taco Bell had a better than expected first quarter this year, they have previously been posting low sales numbers, perhaps due to some of the bad press involving salmonella and lawsuits over their meat.